RUGBY 7s: Thunderbirds claim fourth straight Canada West title on home turf

Recap provided by UBC Sports Information. Photos by Vamsi Nadella.

VANCOUVER – Playing in front of a home crowd inside Thunderbird Stadium, the T-Birds ended the final day of the 2026 Canada West Rugby 7s season with the triumphant lifting of the conference championship banner.

Despite ending up with the silver medal for the season overall, Victoria did finish atop the standings in the UBC Tournament, after defeating the Thunderbirds in the final match on Saturday afternoon.

Each team left the weekend with at least one win to celebrate, with bronze medallists Trinity Western victorious in three of their five matches in Vancouver and all three of Alberta, Calgary and Lethbridge finishing with 1-4 records, separated only by point differential.

“I’m super proud of this year’s squad,” said UBC head coach Darcy Patterson. “They all pushed really hard, and we had a few injuries stemming from the first tournament, so to be able to continue and have an undefeated season up until the last game is pretty impressive.

“I think we overall had six new players join the squad so I’m proud of all of them and all their contributions…I’m really thrilled for their futures and their contributions to come in the next few cycles because 7s is so exciting.”

The day’s action began with a pair of Ava Van Santen tries for Trinity Western in their match against Calgary, putting her team up 14-0 before halftime. Bomi Lawal nearly answered back with a massive run down the sideline, but was brought down by the last defender before she could score for the Dinos.

Stephanie Chan-Dunford and Hailey Hibbs scored in the second half for the Spartans to make it 24-0, while Calgary’s Larae Benoit made a fantastic defensive recovery to stop what looked to be a sure try for Sierra Hamilton with a last-second tackle.

The second match of the first session featured the Vikes taking on the Pronghorns, and it was Lethbridge who struck first when Sydney McDonald broke free midway through the first half for a try. UVic’s Ivy Poetker responded straight from kickoff, however, and the Vikes wouldn’t trail for the rest of the match.

Maggie Mackinnon, Kyla Warren and Cypress Des Ormeaux rounded out the scoring for the Vikes, as they improved to 4-0 on the weekend with a 24-5 win.

Sarah MacPherson and Emilee Randolph traded tries for UBC and Alberta in the beginning stages of their matchup, but the T-Birds took over as play went along. Up 14-5 at halftime following a try from Adia Pye, Jaime Dickson and MacPherson combined for another three scores in the second half, while Olivia Sarabura hit all four of the convert attempts she took.

Emerson Hanrahan got one more on the board for the Pandas in the midst of that, as the match ended with a score of 33-10 in favour of the hosts.

Following the break between the two sessions came the most hotly contested matchup of the day, as the Pronghorns and Spartans did battle. McDonald again was the one to get her team on the board first following a nice passage of play where Lethbridge worked the ball across the field.

Needing an offensive spark, the Spartans got one from Van Santen in the final minute before halftime, as she took the ball following a ruck and knifed her way through the Pronghorns’ defensive line, before then making the convert to take the lead.

The two teams traded tries in the second half, with Kelsa Kempf and Van Santen scoring for Trinity Western and Charli Helland and McDonald doing so for Lethbridge. Crucially, the only successful convert came from the Spartans, which put them up 17-15. McDonald nearly broke away down the sideline on the final play of the match, but was brought down by a pair of TWU defenders to seal the win for the Spartans

The Dinos then had their best performance of the weekend, as they took down the Pandas by a score of 26-7. Kayla MacLean drew first blood, before Lawal put her team up by 14 heading into halftime.

Hungry for their first win in Vancouver, the Dinos kept the pressure on with a pair of tries scored by Maori De Jesus-Gilhula. Allysen Stachiw provided some good kicking, hitting three of her four convert attempts. While Hanrahan scored late for the Pandas to avoid the shutout, they were unable to mount a serious comeback attempt.

The final action of the season saw the Vikes get one over on the Thunderbirds, as they jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. Olivia Newsome was the one who found the try zone for both of the Vikes’ first half scores, and while Sarabura got one back for UBC right before halftime, that was as close as they would get.

Elle Douglas and Mackinnon each punched one in during the second half, as the Vikes took a 26-5 win to deny UBC’s bid for a second straight undefeated campaign.

RUGBY 7s UBC TOURNAMENT FINAL STANDINGS

* Win - 4 Points / Draw - 2 Points / Loss - 1 Point / No Show - 0 points

2026 CANADA WEST RUGBY 7s SERIES FINAL STANDINGS

All the teams participating in the Series will receive competition points according to their ranking at the end of each tournament. The overall winner of the Series will be determined by the team with the most series points as set out below:

1st Place - 10 points / 2nd Place - 8 points / 3rd Place - 6 points / 4th Place - 4 points / 5th Place - 2 points / 6th Place - 1 point

UBC Tournament Day 2 Scoring Summary

View the UBC Tournament Day One Recap Here

UBC TOURNAMENT - SESSION 4

Game 1: Trinity Western 24, Calgary 0

TWU Try - #6 Ava Van Santen (conv #6 Ava Van Santen) 7-0 TWU

TWU Try - #6 Ava Van Santen (conv #6 Ava Van Santen) 14-0 TWU

Half

TWU Try - #8 Stephanie Chan-Dunford (missed conv) 19-0 TWU

TWU Try - #1 Hailey Hibbs (missed conv) 24-0 TWU

Game 2: Victoria 24, Lethbridge 5

LET Try - #11 Sydney McDonald (missed conv) 5-0 LET

VIC Try - #11 Ivy Poetker (conv #13 Maggie Mackinnon) 7-5 VIC

VIC Try - #13 Maggie Mackinnon (missed conv) 12-5 VIC

Half

VIC Try - #15 Kyla Warren (missed conv) 17-5 VIC

VIC Try - #22 Cypress Des Ormeaux Schmidt (conv #23 Marin O’Regan) 24-5 VIC

Game 3: UBC 33, Alberta 10

UBC Try - #14 Sarah MacPherson (conv #7 Olivia Sarabura) 7-0 UBC

ALB Try - #15 Emilee Randolph (missed conv) 7-5 UBC

UBC Try - #6 ​ Adia Pye (conv #7 Olivia Sarabura) 14-5 UBC

Half

UBC Try - #8 Jaime Dickson (conv #7 Olivia Sarabura) 21-5 UBC

UBC Try - #14 Sarah MacPherson (conv #7 Olivia Sarabura) 28-5 UBC

ALB Try - #13 Emerson Hanrahan (missed conv) 28-10 UBC

UBC Try - #8 Jaime Dickson (missed conv) 33-10 UBC

UBC TOURNAMENT - SESSION 5

Game 4: Trinity Western 17, Lethbridge 15

LET Try - #11 Sydney McDonald (missed conv) 5-0 LET

TWU Try - #6 Ava Van Santen (conv #6 Ava Van Santen) 7-5 TWU

Half

TWU Try - #7 Kelsa Kempf (missed conv) 12-5 TWU

LET Try - #5 Charli Helland (missed conv) 12-10 TWU

TWU Try - #6 Ava Van Santen (missed conv) 17-10 TWU

LET Try - #11 Sydney McDonal (missed conv) 17-15 TWU

Game 5: Calgary 26, Alberta 7

CGY Try - #13 Kayla MacLean (conv #10 Allysen Stachiw) 7-0 CGY

CGY Try - #1 Bomi Lawal (conv #10 Allysen Stachiw) 14-0 CGY

Half

CGY Try - #14 Maori De Jesus-Gilhula (missed conv) 19-0 CGY

CGY Try - #14 Maori De Jesus-Gilhula (conv #10 Allysen Stachiw) 26-0 CGY

ALB Try - #13 Emerson Hanrahan (conv #15 Emilee Randolph) 26-7 CGY

Game 6: Victoria 26, UBC 5

VIC Try - #14 Olivia Newsome (conv #14 Olivia Newsome) 7-0 VIC

VIC Try - #14 Olivia Newsome 12-0 VIC

UBC Try - #7 Olivia Sarabura (missed conv) 12-5 VIC

Half

VIC Try - #7 Elle Douglas (conv #7 Elle Douglas) 19-5 VIC

VIC Try - #13 Maggie Mackinnon (conv #13 Maggie Mackinnon) 26-5 VIC